Chapter 149 The Basketball Game
Willow: [Calling all ladies! Tomorrow afternoon, there's a college basketball game at A University, and some young hunks are summoning you.]
Daniel: [I'm in. Will be there on time.]
Ophelia: [What time? I want to go too.]
Willow: [Ophelia, can you make it out without being recognized? After all, you're no longer flying under the radar.]
Ophelia: I climbed to the middle tier now. I have a brand event tomorrow morning, but I'm free in the afternoon. I'll be incognito, slipping in quietly so nobody should notice me. You two will have to cover for me.]
Daniel: [Not worried about fans, but did you get the okay from Liam?]
Ophelia: [It's a minor issue; I can handle it.]
Willow: [Great, the three of us must stick together. It starts around 2 p.m. Ophelia, just time it right and text me when you get to the A University gym. I'll meet you at the entrance.]
Ophelia: [OK]
Daniel: [OK]
After finalizing the plans, Willow looked at her phone, considering asking for the afternoon off in advance; it wouldn't do for her to be the one to drop the ball if Willow and Ophelia were counting on her. She then opened her company's app and, after a few taps and swipes, submitted a request for Friday afternoon off.
The following morning, Willow, with her backpack slung over her shoulder and breakfast in hand, walked into the JK Group's office building. As the elevator doors were about to close, she hurried forward, calling out, "Hold on, wait for me."
She managed to catch the elevator ride, but upon entering, she was taken aback. Inside were only two people: her coworker Luca and, unexpectedly, Mitchell.
Seeing Luca in the elevator was no big deal, but Mitchell? The JK Group had separate elevators for employees and the CEO, so typically, Matthew and Mitchell didn't ride the employee elevator.
Willow stood stiffly, holding her breakfast while smiling professionally. "Morning, Luca. Morning, Jonah."
Then she turned around, facing away from the two men, and felt a persistent gaze on her back, which made her uncomfortable. Silently, she counted the elevator's floors, hoping it would hurry up to the 15th floor.
Luca seemed to be giving Jonah a work rundown, and Willow wondered if he had seen the leave request she submitted—when she checked that morning, it hadn't been approved yet.
She wanted to shrink into the corner, to make herself as unnoticeable as possible. It would have been best if they had just gone on with their business as if she weren't there. She regretted racing for the elevator. If she had walked slower, she would have missed this awkward ride altogether.
Lost in thought and having just wished to be invisible, Luca immediately directed his attention to Willow, bringing out an utter sense of despair in her.
"Willow, haven't had breakfast yet?" he inquired.
Internally, she thought, "Oh, Luca, how I really appreciate your concern."
Willow responded with a professional smile and a slight nod, "Sure."
"Eating so little isn't good for young people. It would help if you didn't skip meals or wreck your health by dieting, you know. Breakfast is very important."
Thankfully, the elevator reached her floor, and as soon as the doors opened, Willow stepped out swiftly. Luca was genuinely a nice man, but as he got older, he tended to nag a lot.
Following behind her, Luca exited the elevator while Mitchell stayed on for a higher floor.
Once the elevator doors had closed, Willow approached Luca, "Luca, I have to take care of something this afternoon. Could you approve my leave request? Otherwise, I can't leave at noon."
"Sure, sure. I'll approve it when I get back to my office. What's the hurry? Do you have a date?" he teased.
Willow blushed, "No, it's not that. But it's something really important I have to handle. Please approve it early."
With that, she grabbed her breakfast and dashed off to the pantry to eat.
It wasn't long before Willow's phone buzzed with a message; her leave request had been approved. At her level, taking half a day off was a breeze—Luca's okay was all that was needed, so everything proceeded smoothly.
Willow sat in the breakroom, munching on her breakfast and scrolling through the news on her phone.
A notification from Facebook popped up.
Daniel: [Willow, did you take the day off? Meet outside the university gates at noon sharp. I'm missing that stir-fry joint.]
Willow: [No worries, my leave's been approved. See you in the lobby at noon.]
Daniel: [Perfect. I even swapped shifts with someone to make it for the basketball game this afternoon.]
Willow: [All for the sake of watching cute guys, huh? You'd go to great lengths.]
Daniel: [Back to work.]
With a grin, Willow finished her last bite of sandwich, ready to start her workday.
Just as she stepped out of the breakroom, Luca approached with a stack of papers. "Willow, good timing. Can you take these documents up to Jonah for a signature? I've got something to sort out." Handing the papers over, Luca strode off before she could reply.
Willow gazed at Luca's retreating figure, muttering, "Ugh... boss..."
Resigned, she turned and made her way upstairs with the documents in hand.
Reaching Mitchell's office doorstep, she found the door ajar. Knocking lightly, Willow pushed open the door and stepped inside. Mitchell was at the window on a call. Spotting Willow, he covered the mouthpiece and signaled to her, "Just a moment," before continuing the conversation.
Willow had intended to drop off the documents and return later, but now she was left waiting. Mitchell was probably discussing business in English -- a language she found somewhat challenging -- so she could only catch the gist of the conversation about some plan revisions.
Looking around the office to kill time, she didn't expect Mitchell to finish so quickly. Willow was by the bookshelf, holding Mitchell's trophy for an award-winning architectural design, inwardly marveling at how impressive Jonah was. Compared to him, she felt like a complete novice in architecture.
"Willow, did you need something?"
At the sound of Mitchell's voice, she quickly set the trophy down and approached with the documents.
"Jonah, this document needs your signature," she said, extending the papers.
Mitchell took the documents, scrutinized them briefly, and signed his name.
In a casual tone, he asked, "So, how come you are delivering documents today?"
"Oh," Willow replied, "Luca was tied up with something, so I'm helping him out."
Mitchell signed off on the document, closed the folder, and handed it to Willow. Out of the blue, he asked, "Are you trying to lose weight?"
Willow was caught off-guard. "Oh, no. I never diet." She thought the question was rather odd: why would she need to diet when she didn't even keep track of how much she ate? She considered herself lucky to have the kind of metabolism where she could eat whatever she wanted without gaining weight, so she always enjoyed her meals.
"Yeah, don't get caught up in those fasting fads. Health comes first."
"I got it, Jonah," Willow replied.
She left Mitchell's office with the documents in hand, thinking to herself that Mitchell was even stricter with her than her brother Matthew was.
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